By BILL VLASIC

May 19, 2014

DETROIT — General Motors on Monday hired one of its former executives to manage public relations and help steer it through a safety crisis linked to 13 deaths.

G.M. said that Tony Cervone, who spent a decade with the automaker before leaving in 2009 and who has worked with its current chief executive, Mary T. Barra, will join the company immediately as its senior vice president for global communications.

Mr. Cervone, who had been working for the German carmaker Volkswagen, will replace Selim Bingol as G.M.’s top communications official.

Mr. Bingol left G.M. in April as part of a management shake-up precipitated by the company’s decade-long delay in recalling millions of small cars with defective ignition switches.

G.M. is trying to restore its battered image in the face of several federal investigations and the company’s internal inquiry into its handling of the recall.

Last week, the Transportation Department announced that G.M. had agreed to pay a penalty of $35 million and make wide-ranging changes to its safety practices after failing to report the ignition-switch defect in a timely manner.

In announcing the consent agreement, a top federal regulator chastised G.M. for its repeated negligence in dealing with a deadly vehicle-safety issue.

“The fact that G.M. took so long to report this defect says something was very wrong with the company’s values,” said David J. Friedman, acting chief of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Mr. Cervone was selected after a search of outside candidates for the communications job.

But his extensive background with G.M. was cited by Ms. Barra as a key reason for his hiring.

“I’ve worked with Tony in the past, and he has my trust and respect,” Ms. Barra said in a statement. “I know he’ll be another catalyst for change in our leadership team.”

Since the recall, Ms. Barra has also replaced G.M.’s head of human resources, overhauled its vast engineering department and created a position of vice president for vehicle safety.

Two top engineering executives subsequently retired. In addition, two midlevel engineers have been suspended with pay because of their involvement in the switch problems.

G.M. declined to make Mr. Cervone, 51, available for comment. He said in a statement that it was a “great time” to rejoin the company but made no mention of its safety issues.

“A re-energized leadership team, the best products in its history, a renewed commitment to individual customer experiences and a compelling drive for cultural change all combine to make this a key moment in this great company’s history,” Mr. Cervone said.

Besides working at G.M. and Volkswagen, Mr. Cervone has also been an executive at Chrysler and United Airlines. He has worked closely in the past with Steve Harris, a retired G.M. communications executive who has been serving as a consultant to Ms. Barra.